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Since she was five years old, Bettye’s mother has reminded her of the family credo, “Always remember you’re a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president.” Her book, The Other Madisons: The Lost History of A President’s Black Family” is Bettye’s gift to her own descendants and to all of us to remember that the Founding Fathers may have laid the foundations for our country, but the actual physical foundations were built and maintained by millions of enslaved people. Bettye is the “griotte” in her family, the one bearing witness to the lives of generations long past by retaining and protecting the oral history which she will in turn pass onto her own daughter. The Other Madisons takes this history and her decades of exhaustive research and puts it in writing for the first time. Yet to listen to this interview with Bettye gives you a taste of the ancient storytelling tradition without which we would never learn the truth. The Other Madisons bettyekearse.com

A fascinating insight into writing and researching a historical novel, Leaving Lissadell, with Helen Molanphy, KSFR Board Vice-President. Helen’s Irish roots and admiration of Irish revolutionary Constance Gore-Booth Markiewicz have inspired her for decades and nurtured the creative seeds of Leaving Lissadell. As a Professor Emeritus in Political Science and author of The American Penal System, Helen is well placed to note the injustices faced by Constance and the Irish people leading up to and after the 1916 Easter Rising. Helen also speaks about her search for a publisher for Leaving Lissadell which we sincerely hope will be rewarded soon. Contact Helen Molanphy through KSFR.

It’s my fourth anniversary hosting The Last Word and celebrating with me are intrepid travel journalists Judith Fein and Paul Ross, aka Cowboy Poet PJ Ross. Judie is back with more stories from her very popular book How to Communicate with Dead and How Cultures Do It Around The World. She meets a realGhost during a ceremony in Brazil and honors the beautiful rituals of our Mexican neighbors for whom a conversation with a deceased beloved relative is often part of everyday life. Keep your mind and heart open as you listen and discover Judie and Paul at globaladventure.us

A treat for animal lovers today from multi award-winning Junkyard Girl author Carlyn Montes de Oca.

Imagine yourself in the excitement at NASA’s manned space center in Houston in the time leading up to the first moon launch in 1969. In elegant and evocative prose Isa Arsen takes us there in her debut novel, Shoot The Moon, described as “deep, bold and crackling smart” we travel backwards and forwards and backwards time and again with Isa’s protagonist Annie from her childhood in Santa Fe’s east side to her dream on the launch team. An interview that may raise the hairs on the back of your neck as we explore how a writer brings the mysterious equations of soul love and the anomalies of physics to the page. Meet Isa Arsen at Collected Works Bookstore on Sunday, October 22nd at 4:00. www.inarsen.com

Delighted to interview Professor Chantel Prat, a cognitive neuroscientist who has been described as “making neurons sing and dendrites dance.” A fascinating 23 minutes discussing her new, very readable book The Neuroscience of You: How Every Brain is Different and How to Understand Yours. Are you more inclined to be “left brained” or “right brained” and can we train our own brains to think differently? Why do languages or mathematics seem to come effortlessly to some people while the rest of us struggle to grasp the basics? Are we born that way? These and other questions answered or at least ruminated upon! www.chantelprat.com

Continuing a critical and heart-warming conversation from last week, Mariah is joined by her husband Byron as the two explore together the way to “Journey Well: You are More than Enough.” Who is this book written for and why even begin the Journey when all around us chaos seems to rule and no one can add one more thing to their agenda? And why More than Enough ? Isn’t it enough to just make it to the end of the day and collapse on the sofa ? In a loving husband-and-wife style By and Mariah discuss their mission “Mandate to Elevate,” something they’ve been doing all their lives, first in their respective professions giving and giving thanks, and now as writers and professional speakers. How can we, too, without feeling duty-bound or putting extra pressure on ourselves? mandatetoelevate.com

We continue our conversation and pilgrimage to Minkowitz in Ukraine with Paul Ross and Judith Fein. Their journey a few years ago predated this year’s new horrors inflicted upon a beautiful land tossed back and forth in blood since at least the 15th century. What were the six, small facts that Judie’s grandma recounted of her youth in the shtetl and how did they form clues to lead Paul and Judie to their ancestral village? Who did they meet and how important is simply being completely in the moment critical for all of us who love to travel? How do you become fully present, how do you stumble upon people and places with such synchronistic timing? And did they ever find the village of Minkowitz and what happened just before they arrived? The Spoon from Minkowitz: A Bittersweet Roots Journey to Ancestral Lands. www.globaladventure.us

Award-winning travel journalist Judith Fein and her husband, photojournalist Paul Ross, join me with their most personal and provocative book yet, The Spoon from Minkowitz: A Bittersweet Roots Journey to Ancestral Lands. Sitting in her Grandmother’s kitchen, little Judie learned six seemingly unrelated facts about the shtetl where her maternal ancestors lived until forced to flee or be killed first by the pogroms decimating Jews and later by Nazis. Her grandma’s stories were few and filled mostly with sadness, yet ignited in Judie a burning desire to see from where she came. How surprised she was on the eve of her wedding to Paul when his usually-distant father presented the young couple with a old spoon, a last remaining memento of his family’s life in the very same shtetl, Minkowitz. In Ukraine. This is part one of a riveting interview filled with history and hope and more. Find Judie and Paul, their books and travel tips at www.globaladventure.usPart 2 next week!

Continuing the conversation with Bonnie Blue about her new book, Finding My Soul: Five Years at The Findhorn Community. Tips for listeners and writers hoping to publish, Bonnie shares her process of writing a memoir and finding help in the world of self publishing and book design. Why write a memoir, we ask ? She also shares more about what’s happened since she “found her soul” and also more about life in the inspiring Findhorn Community now, 35 years since she lived there. Contact Bonnie at beaublue4@gmail.com and the Findhorn Foundation at findhorn.org